Thread: Mexican police catch alleged Reynosa cartel leader

Mexican police catch alleged Reynosa cartel leader

11:38 AM CST on Sunday, November 2, 2008
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY – Police in Mexico have arrested a man they describe as the leader of the violent Gulf drug cartel in the border city of Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas.

Federal police said in a statement Saturday that Antonio Galarza was arrested in the northern city of Monterrey on suspicion of weapons violations and money laundering.

Reynosa is a major shipping point for cocaine heading to the U.S. market, and is dominated by the violent hit squad known the Zetas.

Also Saturday, unidentified persons strung a series of drug cartel messages on banners along roadsides in the Pacific coast resorts of Acapulco and Zihuatanejo. The messages appeared to have been written by the Zetas and accused federal officials of protecting a rival cartel.


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Tijuana's weekend violent deaths total rises to 10

By Omar Millan Gonzalez
November 2, 2008

TIJUANA – Brutal drug-related violence continued in this city, with five more killings reported Sunday, raising the weekend toll to 10.
The state Attorney General's office said Sunday that three bodies were found Saturday night around 10 p.m. wrapped in blankets.

Two of the victims, a man and a woman who appeared to be 35 to 40 years old, were found on Cantera Street in the beach community of Playas de Tijuana. They had been decapitated and their heads were in found in plastic bags. A message believed to be from a cartel was found beside them. The state agency did not reveal its contents.

The third wrapped body, a male's, was found on Cerrada Durango Street in colonia Chamizal, southeast of the city.

The state agency also reported that a man was shot to death Saturday night by gunmen traveling in a Jeep Liberty on Via Lactea Street in colonia Sanchez Taboada, in the east side. He was identified as Guillermo Ruiz Ponce.

Sunday, neighbors who live near the free road to Tecate reported at 6:20 a.m. discovering a nude, handcuffed body of a man in his thirties, the state agency said.

On Saturday, the agency had reported that five people had been killed.

Sunday, the state agency identified one of them as Griselda Machado Cervantes, 39, an attendant at a gasoline station in colonia Villa del Prado, also on the east side.

According to the agency, after she pumped gasoline for a black sedan one of its passengers shot her to death.

Authorities blame the relentless violence on groups of drug traffickers fighting among themselves for control the region.
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Omar Millan Gonzalez is a contributor to The Union-Tribune's Spanish-language newspaper Enlace.

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